Wednesday, 10 June 2009

Creamy seafood tagliatelle with asparagus

I have managed to achieve something that I never thought was possible. I've crammed so much into my freezer that there really is no more room. At all. It's completely my fault, whenever I see something that's reduced or on promotion I buy it and freeze it for later. The problem is I normally forget all about it then buy more stuff and freeze that too!

The freezer is stuffed with vegetables, meat, homemade stock, Ice cream, bread and a whole draw full of mysterious tubs, bags and packets that are unlabelled and I have no idea what they are!

My challenge this week is to run down the freezer to free up some space. Yesterday I made this creamy seafood tagliatelle using some frozen seafood mix (mussels, crayfish and prawns), I also used some fantastic fresh British asparagus which is optional but I really recommend it.Considering the cream sauce this is a surprisingly light meal that's perfect for summer, great served with a glass of chilled white wine.

Recipe:(serves four)

Ingredients:

350-400g tagliatelle or your favourite pasta

A bunch of fresh asparagus cooked and chopped into halves (optional)

2 Small onions or shallots finely chopped

2 Cloves of garlic crushed and chopped

A large glass of dry white wine

150ml Sour cream

500g mixed cooked seafood (mussels, prawns clams etc)

A good handful of chopped parsley

Method:

First bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and begin to cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

While the pasta is cooking fry the onions and garlic with a good pinch of salt in some olive oil in a large frying pan until just softened.

Once the onions have softened tip in the white wine, turn up the heat and reduce the wine by half.

When the wine has reduced down add the cream and mix well, taste the sauce to check the seasoning and correct it if necessary.

Just before the pasta has cooked add the seafood, asparagus and parsley to the sauce, mix it well and leave for a minute to heat through.

Hopie: Tell me about it! I have loads of mystery bags and boxes that I have no idea what they are or what to do with them, it seems such a waste to just throw it away!

Amanda:I'm glad I'm not the only one that over stuffs their freezer!

Foodycat:I bought the fresh mixed seafood (not the frozen bags) and froze it myself. I got mine in Morrisons but I think all supermarkets have it, it's the Lyons brand one, you'll find it next to the prawns in the fridge section.